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A Band To Remember: The Superfun Reptile Returns
Risaeðlan was made up of kids that were keen followers of the great resurrection of Icelandic rock in the early 80s. Magga Stína (vocals/violin) and Dóra Wonder (vocals/saxophone—the sister of drummer Kommi from Taugadeildin and Oxsmá) had been inspired by Grýlurnar, the…
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Dr. Gunni’s Airwaves Highlights Of The Day
dj. Flugvél og geimskip – Off-venue Slippbarinn @12:00 I will get some coffee and see Steinunn Hardardottir aka DJ F og G cook up some deep sea outer space nuggets. Skelkur í bringu – Off-venue Bíó Paradís @13:00 Featuring Steinunn Dj F&G…
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My Fall Foilage Tour To Connecticut, USA
Last fall, I was fortunate enough to go on a fun trip to New England. This is the story of that journey. My trip was facilitated by a woman named Gerri Griswold. Some people are more prolific than others. And Gerri Griswold…
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Why Is Everyone So Angry About That Pink Geyser?
Last week, Marco Evaristti made the geyser Strokkur erupt in pink, and the general population of Iceland went nuts. Even though the food colouring he used had completely evaporated four hours after the offending act, the Chilean artist was subject to a…
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Picks For Sónar 2015: THE OLD FART EDITION
What’s happening at Sónar Reykjavík that old farts raised on punk and new wave might find interesting? Dr. Gunni investigates the visiting artists and passes judgement, as only an old fart can. Skrillex (aka Sonny Moore) is amongst the best-known acts this…
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We Need 1,000,000 Humans, Stat
At the end of 2014, we find ourselves inhabiting a Western welfare state, a pretty good one thank you very much. However, we need about a million more people to make things more interesting and fun. The coming year will bring endless…
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Christmas In The ’70s—A Remembrance
The family bought a Grundig console cabinet stereo in 1976. I know what year it was because I remember the LPs that came with it: ‘Horft í roðann’, the debut solo album by Stuðmenn’s Jakob Frímann Magnússon, and ‘Einu sinni var’, wherein…
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More People = More Fun
To generalise: Icelanders are a greedy bunch. After we escaped from the claws of Danish colonialist rule, the national imperative has been to make as much money as possible. You can say money makes Iceland turn, even though the Mickey Mouse money…
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Icelanders Get All Excited About Rock ‘n’ Roll
Dr. Gunni—Iceland’s eminent scholar of rock and pop music—is finally coming out with the long-promised English language version of his super educational, super detailed treatise on the history of Icelandic popular music. The book leaves no stone unturned and is a must-read…
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Iceland Will Definitely Win Eurovision This Time!
From the beginning of Icelandic Eurovision times (1986), Icelanders have been from 75% to 100% sure that the nation will win the song contest. This happens every year, so we have been disappointed on a yearly basis. It goes like this: First…
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Icelandic Hard Rock In The Eighties And Nineties – A Skin-Deep Account
In the beginning, Icelandic metal bands kept to themselves and were mostly left out of the mainstream. In the movie Rokk í Reykjavík (1982) for instance, the light, Loverboy-type metal band Start looked and sounded like long haired elves out of a…
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Dr. Gunni´s History Of Icelandic Rock / Part 30
Iceland Airwaves is upon us once more. For five days about 750 bands and artists will perform in Reykjavík, of which you only knew three before. The festival has been held annually since 1999, and has gotten stronger and more important by…
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Sálin Reign Over The Country Balls
March 10, 1988 was a big day for Icelandic music. In a long-since burnt down club called Tunglið, HAM were playing their first ever concert, and in the building’s basement—at an adjoining club called Bíókjallarinn—Sálin hans Jóns míns were also making their…
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“It’s No Coincidence We’ve Been Called The Ironic Generation”
I guess you could call them ‘legendary.’ In any case, they’re more ‘legendary’ than most of the crap that is being sold as ‘legendary’ in these limp times of recycled pap. OK, OK, old fart mode off. HAM is one helluva band…
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Dr. Gunni´s History Of Icelandic Rock / Part 29
In the eighties, Stuðmenn (“Funmen”) were the most popular Icelandic band. These people had a solid track record from the seventies (in that decade they had made two wonderful Stuðmenn LPs, six amazing folk rock LPs as Spilverk þjóðanna and two great…
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Dr. Gunni’s History Of Icelandic Rock / Part 28
In 1980, the world was divided into two parts: disco and punk. In 1983, three thunderous years later, punks had become new-wavers, metalheads or ‘regular people’ and the disco gang now got its’ kicks from ‘new romantics’ such as Duran Duran and…
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Dr. Gunni’s History Of Icelandic Rock / Part 27
Scoring a ‘Single of the Week’ in the English music press doesn’t necessary mean the instant access to the big time, but in The Sugarcubes’ case it did. After ‘Birthday’ got the honour, One Little Indian Records was swamped with interview requests…
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Not Going Anywhere In Particular
In 2001 Icelandic hip hop exploded with the genre’s first (and last?) super selling masterpiece, the XXX Rottweiler Hundar’s self-titled debut. Simple yet cool beats and impudent and fresh lyrics spewed out by what appeared to be a gang of street urchins…
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Five Super-Weird Icelandic Records!
Icelandic musicians have produced their share of weird records. Some records aim to be weird, but some are weird by accident, the artist involved even being fully serious about the whole thing. The five below are truly weird, some by design, others…
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Dr. Gunni’s History of Icelandic Rock Part 25
International recognition has always been every ambitious Icelandic pop musician’s goal. And no wonder. Few settle for the limitations of the tiny Icelandic market. Since rock was born here, many have tried to “make it” to little avail. In 1983, the clever…
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S.H. Draumur (1982 – 1988): Kicking Against The Pricks
In 1982 I had been in bands for three years with basically the same guys in Kópavogur. Myself on bass (and sometimes guitar), Steini on guitar and Haukur on drums. The first band was an unfocused early teen band called Dordinglar (“The…
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Life Outside The Mainstream (1982–1985)
Bubbi Morthens and Utangarðsmenn hit the dull sugarcoated Icelandic pop scene in 1980, spreading raw excitement in their wake. Almost overnight all the seventies pop stars seemed passé. In 1981, the new rock scene exploded with bands such as Þeyr, Purrkur Pillnikk,…
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The Rise And Fall Of Kukl
The Icelandic rock movement associated with the ‘Rokk í Reykjavík’ documentary got yet another kick in the groin when the radio show Áfangar (“Phases”) was forcefully discontinued in the spring of 1983. The show had been on the air since 1975, feeding…